Review Responses:

Pandamonium - Thank you for the compliment. Sincerely. Glad to know this story isn't a jumbled mess. As for Rosalina, only a few eliminations are planned in advance. The rest are improvised. I don't think she'll be gone by the end of this chapter, but I can't say for sure.

Elemental Queen - If you have any comments/questions/concerns with other aspects, like plot or characters, feel free to let me know about those too.

Episode 10: Haunted Jaunt
Location: Boo's Horror Castle
Game: Mario Party 9
Team Royal Green: Daisy, Koopa, Rosalina, Petey Piranha
Team W-Shell: Yoshi, Boom-Boom, Toadette
Team Zero: Blooper, Waluigi, Dry Bowser

Bowser was sitting on his airship, speaking to a minion.

"So other than me trying and failing to capture Mr. L, what all happened last time?"

The Goomba started speaking. "Well sir, Roy started improvising the challenge, as you know. He had three players ride in the spinning cups all day, and after you yelled at him for forcing the players to pamper him on your time, he went on a rampage and was stopped by the players. Then Roy threw Koopa Kid into the dungeon in a blind rage."

"And Dry Bowser betrayed me! Well two can play at that game! I have a plan for all of these players, and it won't be pretty!"

Mr. L was flying on a Judgem's Cloud.

"So Dry Bowser no longer has any use for me. I guess I'm on my own, now. I'll have to a-rig the game without his information."

Team Royal Green:

"Yikes! I don't like the looks of this place!" Koopa said, looking out the window. They were flying at night, headed for a giant castle on a mountain, surrounded by a foggy canyon.

"Kinda reminds me of King Boo." Petey reminisced.

Rosalina put her hand on Koopa's shoulder. "It will likely be no worse than what Bowser puts us through on other occasions." she spoke sincerely.

Bowser and Toad had all the teams gathered outside of Boo's Horror Castle.

"Bwahaha! Welcome to your nightmares!"

"What, is this your mom's castle?" Blooper joked.

"Curse you, Blooper! I hope your team loses! You and that phony me both deserve to stay in my dungeon! Now anyway, you all have the rest of the night to find all the stars in the castle! Whoever has the most is the winner!"

"So, another star hunt?" asked Toadette. Bowser shook a claw finger.

"But there's a twist! You're all riding on magic carpets as you look around! These carpets react to your thoughts, so if you're not all thinking about the same direction, it won't work! I have minions all over the castle who will tell me if you hop off!"

"There are ten stars in total! If there is a tie, we will resort to a mini game to decide the winner!" said Toad.

All the teams quickly hopped onto their respective magic carpets and flew off.

Team Royal Green/Team Zero:

The three teams found three separate paths in the entrance hall of Boo's Horror Castle. Team W-Shell took the middle path, since they were all thinking about it. Team Royal Green and Team Zero, on the other hand, both went down the left path.

"Hey what gives, we wanted to go this way!" Petey said.

"So did Waluigi's team!" Waluigi argued back.

Rosalina started trying to defuse the argument. "Well look, there is a junction at the end of this hall, so we can use this opportunity to split up."

Everyone else muttered agreements to this suggestion. When the time came, though, both teams went in the same direction again.

"Quit copying us!" Dry Bowser demanded. Koopa scratched his head.

"Huh. Maybe we should have agreed on different directions."

"Let's just go back already!" Daisy suggested, "I'm sure there are plenty of places to find stars if we go back."

"But I want to go this way!" Petey countered.

Due to their disagreement, Team Royal Green's carpet stopped, while Team Zero went on ahead.

"… Okay fine, let's go." submitted Petey. The carpet started hovering in the other direction, forcing everyone to turn around while sitting on the carpet.

Team W-Shell:

The team's carpet stopped at the top of some stairs.

"… Guys, come on!" Toadette said. Boom-Boom and Yoshi shrugged. Then four Boos surrounded them.

"Bweheheheheheh! Time for a mini game! If you win, you get a star. If you lose, we will keep the player for the rest of the night! … Oh, and no star. Unless you feel lucky enough to try again!"

Yoshi realized that if two of them disagreed, they'd lack a third party to sort things out. This could be bad for them. He volunteered.

"Yoshi, are you sure?"

"Yoshi!"

Game: Ghost Guess
Players: Yoshi
Instructions: You're surrounded by Boos! Guess which one holds the treasure chest, and you win! But if you lose…
Controls: Joystick (move), A (jump)
Tips: "The one you want is usually behind you at the start. Usually."

Yoshi was surrounded by Boos, just as he had anticipated. They all started spinning around him. Eventually Yoshi took a chance and jumped on a ghost. He guessed correctly and got a star.

"Yoshi!"

"Drat! Well you've earned one star, but don't count on getting any more stars!" the boos spoke at once. One handed Yoshi a star and then they all vanished.

Team Zero:

Team Zero found themselves in a long, dead end hallway. The only features were a warp pipe at the end, a star floating over that pipe, and the giant pots lining the hall.

The team went at the average pace at first, when the first set of pots grew giant hands.

"Waaa!"

"Oh no!" Dry Bowser and Blooper yelled at once. The team tried to high-tail through the hallway, but one hand managed to grab them and pull them into its pot.

In the entrance hall, Team Zero was sent flying out of the umbrella holder, as if it were a geyser.

"… Okay, what just happened?" asked Blooper. Dry Bowser and Waluigi shrugged. "Think we should try it again?"

"No way! Let those other losers deal with it! We'll go down the hall that nobody's tried yet!"

Blooper and Waluigi nodded, thinking that this was a good idea.

Team Royal Green:

The team went down the other path of the second junction, and found themselves on a path leading outside, toward a cliff. A boo appeared.

"For this star, only one of you can play. Who will it be?"

"Hey, can I go?" Daisy asked.

Rosalina shrugged. "By all means."

"Yeah I don't care." Petey said.

"Go nuts!" was Koopa's encouragement. Daisy hopped off the carpet, and the boo picked her up.

"Hey! This isn't cool!"

"I am your opponent, I'm taking you to the arena!"

Game: Deck Dry Bones
Players: Daisy, Boo
Instructions: Pick the right card to attack Dry Bones! If you pick the wrong one, you don't get a point. Pick a Skull Card, and he'll fight back!
Controls: Joystick (move cursor), A (select)
Tips: "As the fight goes on, he'll add more cards and shuffle them, so be careful!"

Dry Bones jumped down onto a platform near the central one that had Daisy and Boo on it. He was much bigger now.

"Oh it's you. I'm giant now. Bowser said that if I did this, he'd let me out earlier."

He jumped up, causing his own platform to disappear.

START!

Daisy and the Boo played the skeleton's game just as Daisy had once before. Dry Bones landed on the green platform first, which both players correctly chose the card for.

"Ow."

He landed on green again, but Daisy had chosen a red card, while Boo went again with green. Only Boo got the point.

"Darn it!"

"Ow." Dry Bones repeated.

Dry Bones then summoned a blue platform. He jumped onto that, and while Boo guessed red, Daisy went with blue and got a point.

"Ha!"

"Ow." said the skeleton. Eventually Dry Bones got mad.

"Hey! Quit it, I don't get out of the dungeon if you beat me!"

Team Royal Green - 3 points
Boo - 3 points

Dry Bones jumped back up. Daisy guessed correctly that Dry Bones would land on the new yellow space, while Boo accidentally picked the Skull Card.

"Epic failure!" Dry Bones, as he threw a bone at Boo, taking a point away. Then he got hit by Daisy's card. "Ow."

"Ha!"

Dry Bones jumped back up. Daisy guessed the green card, but Boo picked red and got the point when Dry Bones landed on red.

"Darn it!"

"Ow."

Then Daisy picked the yellow card, while Boo picked blue. Once again, Daisy guessed wrong while Boo won one point, defeating Dry Bones.

"Shake my head! Oh-tee-el!" Dry Bones shrunk back down to his original size.

FINISH!

Team Royal Green - 4 points
Boo - 4 points (+1 tiebreaker point for finishing blow)

"Oh come on!"

The whole team, minus Daisy, found themselves teleported to the front of the castle.

"Bwahaha! Looks like you missed your chance for a star! You could go back and try again, but you'll lose time to search for other stars!"

"So where is Daisy?" Koopa asked.

Toad stepped over to Koopa. "Some stars are guarded by Boos. The Boos determine what the players must do for their stars. The punishment for losing their challenges is to lose the competing player for the rest of the night. If every member of a team loses a challenge, they are out."

Bowser whistled, and a Fishing Boo lowered down, with Dry Bones hanging from the rod.

"So Dry Bones, what are the star totals?"

"Team W-Shell has one star, and everyone else has none."

"Wow, you're all terrible at this!" Bowser taunted. "Okay, take him away! You gotta do this either until the challenge ends, or someone takes your star!"

The Fishing Boo carried Dry Bones away. Bowser called after him. "And feed him another Mega Mushroom!" He felt he was being watched. Bowser turned around and noticed that the team was still there. "Get out of here already!"

Team W-Shell:

The team had gone down the hallway of hands coming out of pots and grabbed the star successfully. Boom-Boom had resorted to his fist-spinning, which had deflected and hurt the enemy hands.

"Yoshi!"

"We might have two stars, but let's not get confident yet. For all we know, the other teams could have more." Oh how wrong Toadette was. Their team's carpet went down the warp pipe, and appeared outside where the Dry Bones challenge was. Boo reappeared.

"Bweheheheh! If you want the star, you'll have to beat the boss here! Are you ready?"

Boom-Boom hopped off the carpet. "Boom-Boom's body is ready!"

Thus Boo carried Boom-Boom off to fight Dry Bones.

Team Zero:

The team went down a path that led them to a room full of treasure chests. A Squeek appeared.

"Alrights, here's what ya gots ta do. Open da chests. One has a star, one has a Boo, and one has a hand."

"Can we each open one?" Blooper asked.

Dry Bowser shook his skull. "Blooper, we'll guarantee that at least one of us is taken by the Boo!

"But we'll also guarantee that one of us gets a star."

"Waluigi loves this!"

"… Fine."

Dry Bowser, Waluigi, and Blooper got off their carpet and went to the chests. Dry Bowser got the star, Blooper got the hand, and Waluigi got the Boo.

"WAA!"

Then the hand pulled Blooper and Dry Bowser into the chest it was emerging from.

Team Zero/Team W-Shell:

Dry Bowser, Blooper, and their carpet were spit out of the umbrella holder in the entrance hall, once again.

"Strange, we didn't have the carpet with us when that happened…" Blooper noted. Then Team W-Shell came out as well. All three of them were still there.

"Yoshi!"

"Well aren't you special?" Blooper taunted. Team W-Shell bragging about their three stars, while Team Zero still had only one. Boom-Boom successfully beat Dry Bones.

Team Royal Green:

Petey, Rosalina, and Koopa all went down the one hallway that led to the chest room, but went down a new path. This led to a round room with seven exits, one of them being the hallway they just came from. Before the team lied the other six.

"With so many halls, these must lead to a majority of the stars." Rosalina concluded. "Let's go from left to right and work our way across."

The carpet moved to the leftmost hallway, signifying that they all agreed on this. Before long, they found themselves in a lit room, as opposed to the dark hallways where candles were the only lighting.

A Gloomba stepped forth.

"Okay, here's the deal. I've got two stars right here."

"I guess some of the other hallways were traps, then." Koopa said.

Team Zero:

Team Zero was spit out of the umbrella holder once again.

"Okay, how about the hallway next to that one?" Blooper suggested.

Team Royal Green:

"And these two stars are yours, on one condition."

"And that is?" Rosalina asked.

"Say my name."

Petey pretended to snap the fingers he did not have. "Oh! Uhhh…"

"You don't even know my name."

"Oh I do, it's, uh… um, uh… Little Black?"

"Hahaha! No. No, it's Gloomba. Say 'Gloomba'."

"Gloomba." Petey repeated.

"Now say, 'please give us the stars, Gloomba.'"

"Please give us the stars, Gloomba."

"Well since you asked so nicely…"

Then Gloomba whistled, summoning a hand from a pot nearby, forcibly taking Team Royal Green back to the entrance hall.

"Curse you, magic maaaaaaaan!" Koopa yelled as they fell.

Team Zero:

"So the next one we'll want is-" Blooper got cut off.

"Let's just do the one on the opposite end!"

"Okay, fair enough."

They all made it to Gloomba's room.

"You get two stars for telling me my name."

"Bwahaha! You're Gloomba!"

"Very good." He gave them the stars. Dry Bowser nodded.

"Thank you, magic man."

Team Royal Green:

Mr. L dropped down from the ceiling in the junction room, before Team Royal Green. Rosalina spoke first.

"Are you here to help?"

"I am! But I can't-a be too obvious about it. Remember this: Bowser, Mr. L, and fourteen. Those are your hints."

"Hey man, which hallway do we use?" Petey asked.

"Third from the left. Second one's a trap. Also I have a warning. This whole game is about to get a lot more… colorful. Be careful. You'll a-see what I mean soon. L-ater!"

Mr. L high jumped back up into the darkness above the room. Team Royal Green took the advice to heart and went for the path he suggested. They found a Thwomp statue at the end.

"Welcome, ladies and germs! To the 67th Annual Quirk Quiz! I'm your host, the Thwomp Statue! If you win, you get two stars! Lose, and it's a one-way trip back to the entrance hall! Are you ready to play?"

Petey, Rosalina, and Koopa all nodded.

"Okay! First question! Boo 1 and Boo 2 decide to see a movie. They can't decide which one to see, so they ask Boo 3. Now… who is the one who sent you to this castle?"

"… Bowser…" Petey said, incredulously. Then it hit him. "Oh I get it now!"

"Indeed." Rosalina nodded. Mr. L's hints were about to come in handy.

"Correct-a-mungus! Next question! Magic Carpet A leaves Stone Castle at 8:00 AM, going thirty miles per hour. Magic Carpet B leaves Spooky Castle at 10:00 PM, going nine-hundred miles per hour. So… who is the mysterious man intruding on Bowser's game?"

"Mr. L!" Koopa said.

"Ding! Final question, folks! Here it is! Bowser has kidnapped all of you and is threatening to make a wish on the Celebration Star if none of you can win! With that in mind… what is seven multiplied by two?"

"Fourteen." answered Rosalina.

"That's right! Congratulations, Team Royal Green! Here are your two stars!" Thwomp Statue spun around in circles a few times, and two stars fell on Koopa's head.

"Ow!"

"TIME'S UP!" Bowser's roar echoed through the castle. Hands emerged from walls all over the castle, taking every player back to the start.

All Teams:

Every single player was now with Bowser and Toad, in front of the castle.

"Did not know they could come out of walls." Blooper said. "Would have been good to know."

"Enough talking! Dry Bones, report!"

Fishing Boo appeared, carrying Dry Bones once more. He started counting on his fingers. "Umm… Team W-Shell has three stars. So does Team Zero. Team Royal Green only has two."

"A tie? I hate ties! Okay enough with you, back to the dungeon!"

"Rats!" Dry Bones cursed, as a warp pipe swallowed him and the Fishing Boo. Bowser turned his attention to the players.

"Well we gotta decide between Team W-Shell and Team Zero. Pick two people from each team!"

Toadette and Boom-Boom came forth, as did Waluigi. Dry Bowser pushed Blooper forward.

"Hey!"

Game: Eatsa Pizza
Players: Toadette & Boomboom, Blooper & Waluigi
Instructions: Eat more of the pizza in 30 seconds than the other team!
Controls: Joystick (crawl), A (eat)
Tips: "Be sure to press A to eat, otherwise moving around means nothing."

The two teams of two were suddenly on their knees in front of a giant pizza. It did not take long for Team W-Shell to win. Boom-Boom had a big mouth, and Blooper did not have any mouth whatsoever.

"Well that didn't last long!" Dry Bowser taunted. Blooper gave him an evil glare.

"So Team W-Shell wins. But before you go, I have a surprise for you all! Starting with our next game, you'll have someone else to deal with!"

Everyone was confused. A warp pipe appeared and Koopa Kid jumped out.

"Wait, you can't let him back in the game just like that!" Koopa called out.

Koopa Kid laughed. "Hahahaha! That's where you're right! Except while Koopa Kid may have lost…"

He focused hard and then there was a bright flash of light. Koopa Kid was replaced by three of himself. One was very red, one blue, and another green.

"… Team Koopa Kid has only just begun to party!" They all laughed evilly and went back to the Koopa Kruiser.

"Introducing your new rival team: Team Koopa Kid! They're my new inserts! And starting next time, things are gonna work a bit differently so that I can make sure to win!"

"Yoshi?"

"I'm glad you asked! If Team Koopa Kid wins, then you can all three potentially lose! We'll have to do the Bonus Stars a bit differently. If Team Koopa Kid loses, the other two teams play them in a mini game!"

Toad stepped in. "If Team Koopa Kid wins the mini game, then the Bonus Stars are awarded just as they have been. But if Team Koopa Kid loses the mini game, one of theirs is randomly sent to the dungeon!"

The teams gulped. Team Royal Green had recalled Mr. L warning them of this. With that, Team W-Shell went to their ship.

"Now the Bonus Stars!" Toad announced. "The Plus Star goes to Team Zero! The Travel Star goes to Team Royal Green! And the Happening Star goes to…"

Both teams were nervous.

"Team Royal Green!" Team Royal Green all ran off.

"So Team Zero! Boy am I glad to get rid of one of you! So go on, who do you want to get rid of?"

"Blooper! He was terrible at eating!" Dry Bowser said.

"What? Thanks jerk, you could've gone instead of me! Just for that I vote you!"

"Waaa, now it's up to Waluigi! Errr… uhh… Blooper!"

"Huh? Why?"

"You're a-terrible at mini games!"

"But-"

Bowser laughed. "Bwahaha! Looks like they've spoken! Goodbye, Blooper!" A warp pipe opened under Blooper.

"I hate you aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall-"

"Bwahahahahaha! Ahahahahaha! Finally, I'm rid of his sarcasm! You two, back to your ship!"

Dry Bowser and Waluigi ran off.

Mr. L came out from behind a rock, shortly after everyone had left Boo's Horror Castle. He started tailing them, following them back to Bowser's castle.

"I hope they can a-deal with Team K. Kid. I'll have to a-keep up. But now… Now that I know Dry Bowser is planning on a-conquering the whole place, I'll have to make sure he does not win…"

Winners' Thoughts:

"Owowowowow!" - Yoshi

"Boom-Boom annoyed." - Boom-Boom

"We get rid of Koopa Kid, just for three more of him to show up! That's not fair!" - Toadette

Losers' Thoughts:

"Wahaha! Waluigi is officially better than most of Team Zero!" - Waluigi

"Now that Blooper's out of my way, I can bend Waluigi to my will and he'll help me to the top! It's foolproof! Except those K. Kids are gonna be a nuisance…" - Dry Bowser

To be continued.

Remaining Players: Daisy, Koopa, Rosalina, Petey, Yoshi, Boom-Boom, Toadette, Waluigi, Dry Bowser, Red K. Kid, Blue K. Kid, Green K. Kid
Losers: Wario, Luigi, Birdo, King Boo, Shy Guy, Dry Bones, Hammer Bro., Koopa Kid, Blooper

A/N - Yep. The Red K. Kid, Blue K. Kid, and Green K. Kid have formed a team to play on Bowser's behalf. That was planned from the start.

(Want to leave a review? Great. Don't want to? Great. I'll field any comments, questions, concerns, and criticisms and take them into account. I'm open to improving on any faults in this story, if you spot any, for your reading pleasure. Just be polite.)